Emerging Infectious Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Despite significant advances in the development of tools to combat microbial agents, emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) continue to impact animal and public health, affecting wellbeing and livelihoods in communities across our planet. The impact is most evidently felt by the most vulnerable and marginalized in developing as well as advanced economies. Investments into developing vaccines and diagnostics or establishing adequate surveillance systems for many EIDs are grossly inadequate. Significant outbreaks of EIDs, on transboundary and pandemic scales, have occurred, most recently affecting both livestock and humans. Examples include outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF), a livestock disease, and Rift Valley fever, a zoonotic disease, impacting communities in Africa, Asia, and Europe, whereas COVID-19 remains a daunting challenge to control globally. Similarly, vector-borne diseases such as Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever and Japanese Encephalitis pose an imminent risk of spread to new areas in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and other non-endemic regions due to the complex interplay of warming global temperatures, expanding vector habitat, increasing human mobility, and population density. In fact, the true geographic distribution and risk of many EIDs are unknown. Evidently, there is need for enhanced epidemiological studies including modeling, and genomic surveillance to better understand the occurrence and risk of EIDs, and development and application of effective medical countermeasures—vaccines and diagnostics. Novel vaccines are needed to mitigate the spread and impact of EIDs in livestock production systems, especially in smallholder resource-constrained settings, on food insecurity, animal, and public health. Enhanced and expanded diagnostic surveillance systems, with the integrated use of conventional and next-generation  diagnostic platforms in serology, molecular approaches (PCR), and genomics (next-generation sequencing) to assess the risk and monitor the molecular evolution of EID agents are needed to create a sustainable environment for global health security.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions (original research articles, reviews, short communications) encompassing emerging animal and zoonotic diseases in any of the abovementioned areas, and it is anticipated to spotlight current developments and trends in EID investigations, surveillance, risk status, and development of medical countermeasures critical to mitigating the impact on global health and food security. 

Dr. Bonto Faburay
Prof. Dr. David Scott McVey
Guest Editors

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